KRISHNAGIRI: Yet another case of tampering with Aadhaar card to make changes in date of birth to evade child marriage arrest has come to the fore.
In the present case, the girl is 16 with a suspected case of Intrauterine Fetal Demise (IUFD). However, her Aadhaar card shows her age as 21 years, according to health department staff. Even though she was advised by the health staff to undergo an MTP (Medical Termination of Pregnancy) to save her life, the girl’s family is yet to give consent.
Health department sources told TNIE, “The case is about Swathi (name changed). She is a school dropout. She studied up to Class VIII. She visited Nagamangalam PHC for a health check-up in the last week of July. Then again she visited on August 4 and August 12.
At that time she was six-week pregnant. At the time, she registered her pregnancy details in Pregnancy and Infant Cohort Monitoring and Evaluation portal of the TN government.
Due to Aadhaar seeding details in the portal, health department staff found that the girl is 16, but her Aadhaar card shows her age as 21 years. She was asked to refer to Denkanikottai GH where it was found that the foetus had no heart rate. To save her, she was asked to undergo an MTP, but they (her family) refused and went.”
But on the same day, they went to a private scan centre at Hosur, the health department source said, adding that “the Hosur centre report obtained by the health department also confirmed IUFD (suspected case). But till Monday evening, the family members haven’t cooperated with the health department for MTP”.
Also, a relative of the girl had changed her date of birth in Aadhaar card at a computer centre in Kelamangalam a few months ago, the girl’s family told the health department staff.
When TNIE contacted Dr C Rajesh Kumar, Kelamangalam BMO, he confirmed the aforementioned and said, “The girl has been travelling with the dead foetus for over five days, which is dangerous for her life. The health department has been pursuing her for over a week. The girl’s family says that a few years ago, the girl’s sister-in-law also underwent an MTP. She too was a victim of child marriage and that’s why they are showing reluctance to get the girl admitted to a hospital. On Monday the family said that they went for a scanning at a centre in Dharmapuri district.”
On June 18, TNIE carried a report titled ‘Bride and prejudice: Aadhaar fudged to mask child marriages in Krishnagiri’, highlighting six cases in Kelamangalam block. In all the cases, the date of birth in Aadhaar was tampered with. After the report, five child marriage cases were booked and two were arrested for Aadhaar tampering in Kelamangalam and Denkanikottai.